The Grave
by sakshi.chopra
Summary: My Entry for Seph's Writing Challenge. After the death of the last remaining Stackhouse, Sookie gives up her life in Bon Temps and goes to the Fae with Claudine. But that was not the family she was looking for. Battered, abused and even more lost than she was, Sookie attempts an escape and literally falls into the arms of more trouble than she was prepared for.
1. Chapter 1

**I am choosing the first banner, with Sookie at her Gran's grave. This story is a little angsty for our girl. I was watching the statistics for female infanticide in India and that is what spurred this idea. There is less of story and more of what Sookie's mental state is, at this point of time. **

**She is in Fairy, but cannot hear the fae minds. All her family is dead and the fairies are all that is left to her. No Bill. This story takes place before Sookie met any vampires. **

**I hope you like it. Maybe I'll extend on it and give her some happiness down the line. **

**Anyways, here goes my story for the writing challenge…**

_**THE GRAVE…**_

**Sookie's POV**

In Fairy, my great grandfather's world, someone is always singing a song. Someone always laughing. Or giggling, without a thought.

They ask me why I don't smile with them. Or laugh and play with them. They find my lack of '_love life_' strange. Their words, not mine. I tell them I am sleeping around enough. They scoff and turn their backs to me. Then, they pity me. Not that they say anything. But I know…

It is always day in Fairy… Always light… The sun never sets. Night never comes.

My cousins say that this is the way the world should be, that night is for the monsters and day is for the enlightened races, that I should be proud of being one eight enlightened. Again, their words, not mine.

Funny, really! What would they know about the comfort of night? They never did an honest day's hard labor and then sought out the night to rest their tired feet. They never had troubles that needed to be slept a night on, and then thought about again, the next day, with a fresh outlook. They don't understand that to truly welcome daylight, night must be honored too.

There is so much they don't understand.

Beneath this flawless, incandescent surface, lurks darkness… a shadow…It lifts its blackened fingers, and chokes me. Sometimes I see it as a physical being, lurking just beyond my sight, ready to pounce if I am not looking.

I saw it, the darkness in this ever present light, for the first time, one human year, three human months, two human weeks and four human days ago. I saw it in the eyes of the witch doctor, who touched my belly and said the child growing inside me will not have the spark; that it was too human to be enough fae. I saw it in the eyes of the midwife who brought me my prescribed food that day, poisoned food, which killed my unborn child.

The darkness mocked me from their eyes and took that young life from me. With it, it also took a part of me away. They didn't ask me what I had wanted. My choice in these matters was not important. Nor was my choice wanted or asked for.

Things returned to the usual humdrum of my great grandfather's palace after the unwanted child was gone. After a few days, the witch doctor declared me fit for conceiving again. And the sleeping around with the pure fae males, properly selected by my family, the _fucking_, started again. Everybody was smiling, laughing, singing again. Everyone was happy with me, again.

The second time around, exactly seven human months and three human weeks back, the witch doctor didn't even bother to say it out loud. He just glanced at my cousin Claudine and told us we could go home. They all looked at me and didn't tell me anything. After my first time, I was too scared to ask. I couldn't _listen _to their thoughts, but going by the way they looked at me, I didn't even _have_ to ask. And then I was too scared to eat the food they sent me. I didn't eat, _or drink_ anything for two whole days, save the water from the nearby stream. My body cried out for food. But I was scared. So I stroked my growing belly and begged my unborn child to hold on till I could get away, to someplace safe to eat again.

I plotted… And I ran.

I couldn't get far though. One, there was nowhere to run to. Two, I was not alone. There was the baby too.

On the third day, my co-traveller, my baby, gave up the fight. I saw him leaving me, leaving my body, in a huge red pool of blood. My baby had been so tiny. It was not supposed to be big enough to have so much blood. Even I did not have so much blood. The sight of that blood knocked the fight right outta me.

My body was wracked in pain and delirious exhaustion… Pain kept me sane though. And alive…I welcomed the pain with both hands and let everything else go…

I woke up, fifteen human days later, in my beautiful bed, covered in embroidered silks, surrounded by my concerned kin. They beamed at me when I opened my eyes. They were happy that I was safe in my room again. I wasn't allowed out of that room much, after that incident.

But I didn't want to be in that room, or with those people. I wanted to follow my tiny, unborn children to wherever they went. That was the first day in my short life when I truly hated being the one who was alive. That was the day I couldn't find anything worth living for. I wanted to die too...

Still, it is always day in Fairy. Always light. The sun never sets. Night never comes…

But beneath the surface lurks a darkness…hungry, greedy, deep…

It lifts its blackened fingers, and chokes good dreams, slyly in sleep.

Beyond where my sight goes, it lurks and sits, with baited breath and evil will…

To put out those last few candles, flickering against the shadows still.

Not much is left of me. The fairies brought me to their world and said they wanted to protect me and give me a family. They found me the day I buried my beloved gran, my last actual family. Her grave sat near my parent's grave, a little away from my brother's tombstone, right beside my human grandfather's final resting place. All of the Stackhouses, left to become dust with dust, six feet under. Only I was left.

I felt so alone that day.

And then, Claudine, my cousin, popped beside me, near my gran's grave, and told me I still had a family, that I was welcome and needed elsewhere too. She told me that I needn't feel lonely. She offered me a hand to take me away. Nothing remained to tie me to my life in Bon Temps anymore. Just a few friends who would probably wander where I went for a couple of days, and then move on. Sam, my boss at Merlotte's, would throw a fit that I didn't show at work, would look for me, but eventually would replace me with someone else. There was no lack of waitresses in our small town.

So when Claudine offered the shiny herring of family, I jumped and bit in, headlong. She clasped my hand beside my gran's grave, and pulled me to step over it. Mystified, I followed her step, and suddenly, the evening of Bon Temp's cemetery fell away and I entered the realm of everlasting light. I looked back but could not find that gravestone. Instead, all I could see was a perfect rose garden around me. I didn't know it then, but that grave became my last remaining brush with humanity.

I don't have much left, but I would give it all up to touch that grave once more.

I have often looked, _unsuccessfully_, for that place again. It turned out to be a magical portal between the worlds that I couldn't perceive and find, or cross, because I did not have enough magic for it. Full or even half fairies could see it easily and cross over. Not me.

_Well, not until now._

I went to the witch doctor again today. He touched me and gave me a huge smile. My great grandfather was immediately given the wonderful news that this time, finally, I was carrying a child with the essential spark. I was hugged all around. Preston, my full blooded fae suitor, the father of my child, looked proud and stood tall as my great grandfather shook his hand and congratulated him. A feast was organized and everyone danced till they couldn't stand. A fae baby of royal blood, with the essential spark, was big news indeed.

I patiently waited for the festivities to end, to be left alone.

And now, even as the last of the guests are leaving the palace grounds, I am stealthily making my way towards my biological grandfather Fintan's secret rose garden, the place where the portal is supposed to be. I couldn't see it before. But perhaps, with my magical fae baby inside me, the one who has enough fairy blood to inherit the essential spark, my magic will be enhanced too. Perhaps this time, I would see the portal. I just have to try this. Maybe I would see gran's grave again. Her bones cannot solve my problems. But I know they were my gran's bones. I could pretend they were gran…

The garden is pulling at my heart, silently urging me to hurry my steps. I am feeling a strange tug inside me, a need to see the place again. I couldn't have stopped myself even if I had wanted to. If I didn't have that little someone to carry, I would be running right now.

I reach the high hedgerow and find the little hidden gate latch. My hands should be trembling, but they don't falter as I pull at the latch and duck inside. I haven't even straightened yet. My eyes automatically go to the far corner by the pool.

_There it is. I can see it! _

The electrified sparkling stretch of air that I couldn't see before appears clear as day to me this time. For the first time in years, I feel emotion stirring deep inside me. A small spark of hope is igniting in my heart at the sight of a very real possibility of escape from Fairy. There is nothing in this accursed place that I want to keep or bring with me. There is absolutely nothing that ties me to Fairy. All that I want, all that I need, is on me, or inside me. Now I just want out of here. I have had enough of the family thing to last me a lifetime…

I walk up to it and prod the air with a finger. It burns a little and I see the tip of my fingernail disappear through the air. Someone grasps my hand. But instead of alarm, I feel safe. A sudden feeling of peace descends on me. Then, I am pulled forward, clean through the sparkling air…

**EPOV**

I still don't know why I bought this shithole.

No, I know the _why_… It just, _confounds_ me!

_Why_ the Ancient Pythoness would have this much interest in my life, or _more specifically_ my _business or personal_ _investments_, is beyond me.

'_Buy this house and the land surrounding it, in bumfuck nowhere, guard it with everything I got, which is a lot, and wait for what future brings me', _she says, in her usual cryptic way, and buy the damn place I do. Right fucking away! And of course without question…One, because I don't want more confounding riddles, and two, because who the hell can question her anyway.

To guard the place properly, I had to make it my primary residence. She never said anything about not making changes to the house though. So I made a few improvements to suit me. The temperature controls, perimeter walls, network connectivity and the basement light tight suite, which was also connected to an outpost to the edge of the property, built to provide safe passage out of the house in case of an emergency, were the necessary additions. The basement egress opened, very aptly, in the neighboring graveyard, where my progeny or I could quickly dig ourselves in. _Or out,_ depending on the need of the hour. After all, a good ol' dead body in a grave would raise no suspicions. The humans were just too scared to look closely anyways. Fortunately, this town was in the middle of nowhere and the house was in the most secluded and obscure corner of the town.

There were no living neighbors for miles around. And after trying to meet me during the day, something they obviously were _not_ successful at, the good but _pathologically_ _nosy_ people of Bon Temps, just assumed that someone had bought the place but no one lived in it. The assumption perfectly suited my job as the vampire sheriff of Area 5, Louisiana. Lesser the witnesses, lesser the need to hide more crime…

Yes, there were advantages to my current home. I welcomed the peace and quit. Barring the event of a zombie apocalypse, my very truly dead neighbors weren't likely to give me any trouble.

But real estate promotions were still a long way off for the ancient Pythoness, and the old crone _certainly_ didn't need the commissions from the sale. So I still had my doubts.

I shake my head and come back to the next due financial report of my area that I have been working on the whole night. It's a drag. I'd rather be doing something else.

Suddenly I feel a pull in my blood and by long ingrained habit, I instantly go on alert.

I check my bond with my child and my maker. It's not coming from either of the two. Now I am really alarmed! I have not shared my blood with anyone else in my thousand years. My blood should not react to any other outside influence. What the hell _is this feeling?_

I feel another tug…Stronger this time…

_The fuck?!_

I am off my chair and out of my office in a split second. Instead of taking the main door, I decide to take the hidden tunnel exit to the graveyard instead. As soon as I start walking in that direction, my whole body feels better. Unbelievably, I can even _smell_ something absolutely heavenly from the same direction.

With each step I take, my sense of anticipation grows…The scent becomes stronger…My need to be somewhere, _the fuck I know where_, becomes more persistent…

By the time I reach the graveyard, this need, this _odd pull_, is all that I am aware of.

I don't care if someone saw me rise up from a dirt covered trapdoor by an old grave marked Adele Stackhouse, or not… I don't care that the sun is going to be up in less than a minute... I don't care about the source of this new fuckery…

I just need _that_, which is making my blood jump like a tide swelling involuntarily towards the moon…

Out of nowhere, a light crack opens in front of me and a hand appears in thin air. Without thinking it through, running solely on instinct, I grasp the hand and yank it towards me.

That's when it hits me like a fuckton of bricks!

_The scent_…a perfume like the flowers from my birthplace…

_The warmth_… like sun on my skin a thousand years ago…

_A pair of bright blue eyes_…the exact color of my beloved ocean when the first rays of the sun used to hit the tumultuous waters…

One human woman…

Two heartbeats…


	2. Chapter 2

_Out of nowhere, a light crack opens in front of me and a hand appears in thin air. Without thinking it through, running solely on instinct, I grasp the hand and yank it towards me. _

_That's when it hits me like a fuckton of bricks!_

_The scent…a perfume like the flowers from my birthplace…_

_The warmth… like sun on my skin a thousand years ago…_

_A pair of bright blue eyes…the exact color of my beloved ocean when the first rays of the sun used to hit the tumultuous waters…_

_One human woman… _

_Two heartbeats…_

And _fuuuckkk_ is the woman Out. Of. This. _World_!

Absolutely, divinely, gorgeous…The blue of her eyes shines like the best cut sapphires, in sharp contrast with her wild yellow gold hair and flushed alabaster skin. Her deep golden brown eyebrows arc regally on her forehead, matched with the thick eyelashes on her almond shaped eyes. Her cherry pink lips part in a gasp. As her eyes focus on me, her pulse quickens and her pupils dilate, showing a layer of light grey concentric circles in her dark blue eyes.

There is a slight wind around that blows her hair over her face. I cup her cheeks and hold her hair back from that beautiful face. I can feel her warm breath on my neck. Her scent is all around us, pulling me in and coaxing me to jump headlong into the whirlpool of craziness it is whipping up in my head. Just a whiff of that scent alone could bring a lesser vampire to madness.

My fangs snick down with a snap!

I think they shock her because she gasps and shudders.

Is she scared?

I don't know why but I do not want her to be. I don't want her to run away screaming. I also do not want to hide my fangs from her, just for the fear of scaring her. In a twisted way, I want her to be not scared of scary me. This is the most complicated situation, emotion-wise, that I've had on my hands this month, taking into consideration the annihilation of Pam's favorite pumps last month and her tantrum thereafter. Either way, I have this wonderful creature in my arms and scared or not, I am not letting go. Not right away at least.

Her face and neck color up. The enchanting blush spreads as far as I can see, from the tips of her hair till the neckline of her dress. But she doesn't avert her eyes. And she doesn't move. She just stares at my mouth, my fangs. For a moment or two hundred, I just look at her and she looks right back.

She starts to smile. That pulls a smile out of me as well. Then suddenly, she laughs out aloud.

Fucking chimes is what I hear when she laughs!

However, no sooner than she started laughing, her face contorts in a painful expression, and she sucks in a shallow breath, biting her lower lip between her teeth, as if to stop herself from crying out. Her beautiful blush darkens and her skin starts reddening as small wisps of smoke appear, rising from her hair. It is as if she is beginning to burn up, just like a vampire would in the sun. But she has a heartbeat. She breaths. She is warm like the sun. I am positive that she is no vampire. I am one. And if I don't haul myself from the current spot, in about thirty seconds I'd be joining her in her smoking gig.

As much as I want to take cover and die for the day, I can't leave her out here. I just… _can't_. So, continuing with the theme of my night, going on instinct alone, I grab the simmering girl in one arm, open the trap door to the underground tunnel and glide in, immediately plunging us into the darkness of the passageway below.

"Hey! Let go of me! _What are you doing?_" She shouts and struggles but that does not affect my hold on her.

I let go of the screaming girl for two seconds to secure the trapdoor lock and she blindly scrambles away from me, sticking her back tightly against the wall. I can still clearly see her though.

And whatever was going seriously wrong with her outside, is still very wrong. For some reason, she is clearly burning up.

She starts gasping in short breaths and wildly looks around, no doubt trying to see in the absolute dark. She looks terrified. I don't like that look on her. To try and put her fears to rest, I try pulling her in my arms again, but she screams shrilly and tries kicking my feet and shins.

"_Listen_ to me!" I grab her elbows, "Its _ok_…I _won't_ harm you…" I tell her but she slaps my hands away, which I let her, and does not listen to me.

There are no light fixtures in the tunnel so I hurry towards the door leading to the house, opening which would give her some kind of light to get her bearings straight.

She is still screaming. Suffices to say, I liked the laughter more. _Bloody pregnant females and their protective instincts! _How long will it take for her to realize that if I meant her harm, she would not have been screaming right now? And _why_ the _hell_ is she burning?

As I open the door at the end of the tunnel and turn towards her, she doubles up in pain and starts crying out.

"Nooooo…Not _again…_!" she wails.

_Oh Gods no! What is happening to her?_

Crying screaming women scare me. I just can't handle them. And this one looks to be in agony.

I am so appallingly out of my element right now! I have no clue why she is burning up and in pain and no idea about what I am supposed to do. This is absolutely not my area of expertise and I seriously don't want to fuck up anything else by doing the wrong thing here. In addition to that, I am still fighting her scent and trying not to drain her in the process. Maybe, her cacophony is a good thing after all. _For her at least._

She falls on her knees, clutching her abdomen with both hands and cries out again. I rush to her side and catch hold of her shoulders to break her fall. I kneel down in front of her, searching her face for any sign of coherence. There is none. She looks crazed. At least the small amount of light from the open door has made her stop wrestling my hands.

I cup her cheek and try catching her gaze.

"Please…._please_ don't cry!" I plead, _yes I fucking plead_, "_Tell me_ what you need…What is happening to you?" but I don't think she is listening to anything I am saying. She is plain out sobbing hysterically in pain. The burning hasn't stopped and her alabaster white skin has now taken a deep red coloring.

_Fuck!_

Frantically thinking of a way out of this crisis, I try concentrating on her heartbeat, _their_ heartbeats and both of them are erratic, hers racing, the second muffled one, slowing down.

_I am so in over my head!_

There have not been many times in my long time on this planet, when I have panicked. This is one of those times. I just don't know what to do. Can I heal her with my blood? Barring exchanges with my maker and child, I have never shared my blood or healed a human before. But I have seen and heard of the affects.

This woman is _not_ human. Even if I do the unthinkable and share my blood with her, would it affect her the way it affects humans?

Should I call some local hospital? 911?

Should I call Ludwig?

As my brain starts looking for solutions, my age old habit of sifting through all the available information _belatedly_ kicks in. That's when I realize that I don't yet know _what_ exactly she is.

And _where the hell_ did she come from?

_Why_ exactly is she in pain?

Was she attacked?

Is she escaping from something? _Or_ _someone_?

And _how the fuck_ did she jump out of _thin air_?

Her skin darkens and goes from red to brown, the wisps of smoke start to rise from all over her body now. My nostrils fill up with the burning fumes.

_Sweet_ fumes.

There is something vaguely familiar about that smell…

Sugary…

Sweet burning fumes…

_Sweet smelling fumes?_

HOLY FUCKKKING HELL…_ A fairy!_

_That's_ the smell of a _burning_ _fairy_!

_She_ is a _fairy_!

The damn _enemy_…The _supposed_ _nemesis_…

_That_ is why she looked so fucking breathtaking.

In a split second, I straighten up and take a step back, to distance myself from her burning but alluring form. She tumbles down on her knees, whispering, "Please…_help me_…"

_God help me!_

She crouches low and her head touches the concrete floor below. The sun is up and I am now feeling the pull of the dawn. I won't have much time to ascertain what to do with her. She is now bundled up in a ball on the floor, no longer screaming, but sobbing and whispering deliriously for help. Her eyes are shut tight.

I should get rid of her. I try to leave but my feet won't listen to me enough to turn around and walk away. I could kill the damn fairy here and now and be done with it. No one would question my reasons or hold it against me. Thinking about draining a fairy makes my fangs itch in desire. But for some reason, now my feet won't move towards her. _Fuckers!_

I can feel Pam struggling with the pull of the sun too and trying to reach out to me. She must have felt my panic and frustration through the bond. My phone starts ringing and I know it is her. But I just don't have the time right now, so I ignore it.

"_please_…" she whispers hoarsely again.

At the sound of her pleading whisper, all thoughts of draining her, fly right out of the nonexistent windows of the tunnel. I decide that I can't kill her. _Not_ in her condition and _not_ this way.

One decision made, I start to take a step towards her and pause again, my mind going into overdrive with possibilities. What if this is some kind of trap? I mean, how many crying, pregnant, begging for help fairies have I met in my lifetime?

_Yeah, none!_

I know they are a devious race. I know they can hold vampires in a thrall.

I carefully but swiftly scan her writhing body and listen to her vitals again. Her pulse is off the charts now. She is still burning. I can tell she won't hold out for long.

Maybe, I won't have to make a choice to save her after all.

As soon as this thought crosses my mind, I immediately feel like a bigoted shit for wishing death upon a tortured woman, just because I am coward enough to risk saving her.

_Then_ I hear that other heartbeat stuttering.

It flutters like a bird and pauses for a second, before struggling with a small flutter again. It's going to die. The child is going to die…

An unborn innocent… Who knows nothing of the mortal enemy that stands a foot away from his unborn self, knows nothing of the probably treacherous fairy that carries him, knows nothing of the world that forced him into the fairy's womb. Or what strife is now forcing him out of her, without even getting a chance to actually see this world.

The flutter pauses again. For two seconds this time…The fairy is on the verge of passing out. She is still beautiful, despite the tears, the burns, the wisps of smoke.

I roar in frustration andam instantly on my knees again. My hand automatically reaches out to the fairy's slightly swollen belly. The little heart struggles and clenches. It pauses again.

"_C'mon little one…Don't give up…" _I whisper.

At this point I can't even be sure that my blood will save the little one, or perhaps the mother too. I fear that they are too far gone now. If I feed her my blood, do I risk changing the offspring inside her?

I look at the fairy's contorted face, just as she opens her eyes, in a small moment of clarity. She locks her gaze with mine and just looks at me, this time, _not_ crying or screaming. She just looks at me. Defeated. Lost. That look touches a nerve inside me that her tears or cries for help did not.

The little fluttering heart clenches but does not complete the cycle of the beat.

"_Fight damn it!" _I shout out in angrily, as if I can glamor the unborn one into getting his heart beating again.

It doesn't. The fairy's eyes droop for half a second and then focus on me again. Her hand clutches mine, on top of her small baby bump.

That small fluttering sound, or rather, the _absence_ of that fluttering sound, snaps something inside me.

"_Oh fuck it!" _I say to no one in particular and then, not taking my eyes off the pained blues of the fairy, I bring my wrist to my mouth and bite deeply into it. I lift her head with my other hand, a little off the ground, and put my bleeding wrist on her mouth.

"Drink!" I command. I hope she does because this is really the only thing that I can do for her at this moment. If she doesn't take my blood right now, her child and she, are most certainly going to die. Maybe my blood will save them after all. I just cannot afford to think more about it now.

She is still looking at me with blank eyes and thankfully does not question my orders. She starts sucking on my wounds. One mouthful. Two mouthfuls…My wounds start to close and I bite into my wrist again before pressing it to her mouth. She closes her eyes and sucks again, swallowing quickly. For two tortured seconds, I don't hear anything from the child. Then as my blood reaches out to spread within her veins, I hear a muffled thrumming beat again.

_Praise the Gods!_

That small beat makes me as foolishly happy and relieved as a new father feels at the birth of their child. It's certainly a strange feeling. I had forgotten how this emotion used to feet, seeing as it has been more than a thousand years since I waited with baited breath and worry for my human children to be born and survive the excruciating process. So many things went wrong in those times. If he or she did survive against the odds, a healthy infant used to be considered a true blessing from the gods.

I am brought out of my musing as my wrist closes again and the fairy starts licking my wrist, hungrily catching all stray drops that she missed earlier. Her eyes are still closed and she is making small sounds of appreciation.

_Some sight that is!_

Unfortunately, the sun has been up since a while and I can feel my body aching to shut down. I don't want to leave the fairy in this dark tunnel and I am leery of taking her with me to my locked resting chambers. One, even if I saved her, I cannot trust her. Two, my resting place is reinforced with iron. I am quite sure this little fairy will not get the rest she needs in an iron encased room. Who's to say she won't start burning up again and I seriously don't have the time to care for her again. The same holds true for Pam's room as well.

After a moment of deliberation, I pick her up again, cradling her like a child, even as her skin and hair start healing as the burning stops, and take her upstairs into the main house. Her brown skin turns to red and the red starts lightening up. I reach the most secure windowless bedroom on the first floor of the house, and carry her to the bed. I am sluggish and ready to drop dead, but I take care in placing her gently in between the covers. She opens her eyes as I lay her down and smiles faintly.

"You made the pain go away. _Thank you_…" she whispers.

I smooth back her hair and kiss her forehead. "Don't mention it. Now rest well. When the sun sets, we will talk more of it."

She nods and closes her divine eyes to curl up under the covers. Even though a part of me doesn't want to leave just yet, I force myself to stand and move towards the door. She must have been exhausted, because by the time I turn at the door to look at her, she is already asleep. I shut the door and lock it securely. She would not know how to open the locks, but that's good right? I text the were guards outside to be on high alert and to let anyone enter or leave the premises. I now she won't wake but this is a precaution I am willing to take till the time I can ascertain the risk from her and for her. This bedroom is warded and no one can leave or enter if I don't accompany them. I hope the wards would be enough for now. I'll deal with the rest in the evening.

I hurry over to my basement room, quickly texting more instructions to my day people and…that's all I remember from that day.


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's the next chapter of a story I have taken a long long time to update. It started with a conversation with VictoryInTrouble so I want to thank her… It's just I needed to carefully think and understand what a person like the Sookie in my story would do when she is put in a situation like she is in. I stuck with what I felt was right. You're welcome to share what you think about it :)**

**Here's wishing you and your families a Merry Christmas and a very happy holidays… :)**

* * *

**Sookie's POV**

Last night, after my escape from Faery, I knew I hadn't gone far from gran's grave when that vampire saved me and took me into his lair.

But this? This was one sight, that even in my wildest dreams I had not expected to open my eyes to, any time soon. I didn't know whether it was the nerves, or the aftereffects of my adrenaline rush or just pregnancy hormones, but as soon as I opened my eyes and looked around to see where I was, I started sobbing… The loud, messy snotty kind of sobbing…I cried because I was in gran's old room. My beloved gran's room…I cried because after years of torture, killed dreams and hopeless prayers to a God I didn't believe in any more, I was finally home. I cried, surprised at myself that I still had it in me cry.

I was home. And I didn't know how to react to this unexpected fortune.

I looked around with numb, wet eyes. It was different now, though the changes were well concealed. There were additions that I could see everywhere, first and foremost being the strange shutters on the windows. There was an air conditioning unit mounted on the front facing wall, which hadn't been there before. The curtains were new. So was the bedding and the rug. The bed frame was the same. As were the dresser, gran's old rocking chair in the corner by the window and the fireplace. Whoever redesigned the room did it well. They didn't take its soul away. A small piece of my heart awakened from deep sleep at the sight of this blessing.

I didn't know how long I sat there, staring at the room. Eventually, I had to move to use the en suite bathroom. On my way, I touched and caressed the surface of every old piece of furniture in the room as if they were my long lost family members suddenly standing flesh and blood in front of me, and I just had to touch them to make sure they were really there. Each piece had bravely lived through generations of Stackhouses. Each piece, that came alive with thousands of memories as I walked past it.

The dresser, behind which I used to hide to surprise gran, riffled through its drawers to look for gran's wedding veil to play with in her absence, hid Jason's toy cars in the middle of gran's handmade doilies where he never thought to look for them.

The rocking chair on which gran sat with her knitting or crocheting, while I sat by her knees playing with my dolls. Sitting in her lap as she rocked me gently and told me stories of beautiful places far away till sleep took me. Jason jumping and rocking on the chair especially to annoy gran. Painting the chair yellow when the old white paint started chipping…

Cuddling in a blanket in front of the fireplace in winters…

So many memories of things that were…So many things that could have been…

I reached the bathroom door and twisted the new brass knob. The bathroom was changed more than the bedroom. It now had a modern stone-tiled shower stall with a rain shower, a huge bathtub, granite vanity and a washbasin that looked like it was cut out of one piece of marble and then smoothed along the edges. All the stone matched. I liked it. Gran would have liked it as well.

My bladder was killing me so before I marveled at the new fixtures, I saw to that need first.

I noticed my trembling hands when I was washing them. I didn't give it much thought and surmised that maybe my adventures of the night were finally catching up to me.

Suddenly my head swam and my sight went black at the edges. I could not risk falling over on the hard floor in my condition. So as best as I could with my shaking numb fingers, I clutched the stone basin for support and just let myself slowly drop to the floor, till I lay down on my side. The cool stone felt nice.

Half a minute later, I heard the door to the outer room open and a subsequent knock on the bathroom door. I heard it, but could not muster the energy to get up and open the door. So I remained where I was, curled up on the floor on my side, watching the door.

The knock was repeated, followed by a man's gentle voice.

"Are you alright in there?"

'I am alright' I thought but didn't find the will or the energy inside to speak it out loud.

The man, most probably my vampire savior, knocked again and jiggled the knob. I wanted to tell him that I was fine and would be coming out in a minute. I wanted to tell him to give me a moment to close my eyes and rally my strength…Just enough to…

I closed my eyes.

Enough to…

The next thing I heard was a loud snap of the door knob being twisted and broken, before a huge shadow descended on me.

"Fuck!"

He cursed under his breath and I was lifted off the floor. A voice in my head told me to inform him that nasty words weren't supposed to be uttered under gran's roof and especially in her room. Gran would scrub his mouth with soap if she heard…Thought of his fangs getting a good scrubbing was strange but funny…

I was placed on the bed and the next second, felt a cool wet wash cloth on my forehead. The vampire must have called someone up and was talking urgently on his phone. I opened my eyes and watched him pace the room while he made his phone call. My eyes could be playing tricks on me again because he looked like a giant! Huge and taller than any man I'd met and I had seen quite a few.

With the big vampire going to and fro across the fireplace, the room shrank in size. He finished his call, snapped his phone shut and came to sit at the end of the bed, staring at me anxiously. He said something that I couldn't understand. It was as if my ears were ringing and all other sound was muffled. He came closer to kneel by my side and looked intently in my eyes. His lips moved again as he tried to talk to me. His gaze became more insistent when I didn't reply. Then I felt a pressure in my head and a strange urge to speak up.

"Are you doing this?"

"She talks!" he said but looked relieved and grabbed a glass of water from the bed side table to offer me, "Here…drink this first."

I took the glass and gulped the water down. As soon as the water hit my stomach, a sharp pain went through my side, followed closely by an embarrassing tummy growl.

"What is wrong? This was just plain water!" the vampire frowned.

"Cold water on an empty stomach would do that vampire!" a sharp voice sneered from somewhere, "Honestly, you do know that humans need to feed don't you? Now get out of my way!"

The vampire's frown became a scowl as he stood up and turned to whoever had joined us in the room.

"Lovely as always Ludwig!" he said and stepped aside.

A little hobbit of a woman, with a suitcase as big as herself, trotted over to me and jumped by my side on the bed.

"What's her name? And what species is she? She doesn't look completely human to me." The hobbit said briskly as she shone a small torch in my eyes and then started listening to my pulse.

"I'm not sure. She has not spoken till now."

"Typical!" the doctor interrupted his fumbles, "you can fuck 'em and drink 'em but you don't remember to feed them or even know their names or their kind! And this one…" she felt my belly, paused, turned to the vampire and glared at him, "is pregnant too! Are you trying to kill her?"

"Of course not! I didn't feed from her. I found her almost dead on my property this morning." The vampire shot back.

"I certainly haven't fucked her!" he grumbled a second later.

"And I am supposed to believe that pile of stinking shit? I may not be as old as you Viking but I do know a thing or two about vampire and their pets. I can smell you on her. And in her. Now fess up and tell me exactly what happened."

"That's what I am trying to tell you woman!" he growled menacingly.

Oh boy!

"Stop ranting and listen to me! I found her in my grounds this morning. She was…" he glanced at me for a moment before turning his eyes to the doctor again, "in great pain, almost dying. I healed her with my blood. But then I had to die for the day. I just rose and felt her discomfort. She was passed out on the bathroom floor. So I lay her on the bed and called you."

He looked at me again and his eyes softened, "I don't even know her name!" he added in a low voice.

"So you are saying that you, rescued her and fed her your blood? And you don't even know who or what she is and how she ended up on your front door? That doesn't sound quite like you. You wouldn't do that for strangers."

"I'll be the judge of what I will and will not do. She may be a stranger but she clearly needed help and I helped her. I don't know how she got here."

'She' was right here in the room but none of the two seemed to be interested in asking 'her' what had happened.

"My name is Sookie." I interjected, looking at the vampire, putting an effective stop to their argument, "Some miscreants were following me and I ran here. I am human."

I hoped that story would fly with the doctor because I was not going to tell her about the portal at the back of this house or how the vampire pulled me through. She may be a doctor but she was some kind of hobbit and might be in contact with the Fae.

The vampire cocked an eyebrow and stared at me, clearly not impressed with my story.

"Umm…I am mostly human?" I added.

"Northman. Leave the room." The doctor snapped.

"No!" he growled.

"I need to do a check up. It's supposed to be private."

He clenched his jaw and glared at the doctor, before reluctantly leaving the room. He turned to glance at me at the door and then went out, shutting the door behind him.

"Now" the doctor's continued briskly, "fairy, how long ago was your last meal? And care to tell me what the hell you are doing with a vampire in your condition?"

So this doctor knew I was a fairy and didn't spend any time on niceties. Alright then…

"It's night time now, around six thirty in the evening. So that means I last ate a full meal some eighteen hours ago."

I pointedly ignored her second question and she looked expectantly at me for a couple of seconds, maybe waiting for that answer. I didn't give her that answer and just stared back.

"Alright. You can keep your secrets although I can assure you that whatever you tell me will not be disclosed to anyone or anything under any circumstance." She sighed and then took hold of my chin, gently, which was at odds with her rude tone of voice, "but you have to eat. Are you trying to kill your baby?"

"Of course not!" I shot back.

"Hmmm. So you were dying in the morning? What happened?" she asked while she lifted my skirt and felt my abdomen.

"I don't know what happened. I felt like I was burning all over. The pain was excruciating."

"How much fae are you?"

"One-eighth."

"The father of your baby is fae?"

"Yes. Full fae."

"And the vampire is your lover?"

"Of course not. I just met him this morning." I snapped back, coloring up a bit.

"I asked only because I need to know if you would have access to vampire blood or not. So when was this burning sensation triggered?"

"It was not a sensation. I was actually burning. My skin got blistered and my hair were singed before the vampire gave me his blood to stop it."

She pulled over my braid and smelled the ends of my hair. They were uneven, shortened and the ends looked brown as opposed to my usual wheat gold color.

"So it would not be actual burning. Vampire blood does a lot of things but it does not douse honest to goodness physical fires. You were spelled."

I didn't answer. She kept systematically pushing and prodding my lower abdomen.

"Are you in any kind of pain now?"

"No. I'm just extremely hungry."

The doctor opened her bag case and set up a small portable IV on my arm.

"This is just basic glucose water solution. To make up for your lack of nourishment and hydration. Here's the list of standard do and don'ts, for pregnant fairies" she handed me a huge stack of sheets, "and child?"

I detected a hint of gentle in her tone again.

"Please be careful. Fairy pregnancies are delicate on the best days."

"I will be. Thank you." I replied softly.

"Do you need me to contact anyone on your behalf? Someone who might be interested in news of you?"

"No." I answered without hesitation.

She snapped off her gloves and rubbed some disinfectant on her hands. "Ok then. I'll be off."

"NORTHMAN?" she yelled.

The door banged open and in walked, the Northman.

"I'll send you the bill. Here…" she thrust another stack of papers in his hands, "the list of foods you need to feed her and the timetables. Make sure she eats and rests."

The vampire snatched the papers from her and led her out of the room. As soon as the door shut off behind them, I removed the covers and got off the bed. My shoes lay right beside the bed. I put them on. I walked to the door and opened it to walk out. I couldn't. I just walked into an invisible screen and couldn't cross the thresh hold. I took a deep breath and tried again. Only to stumble back again.

"It is spelled. You can't leave this room unless I escort you out of it." The vampire said in a low voice as he came to lean against the wall opposite the door. He stood in a way that made his body look sinfully inviting. If I hadn't been struck numb from physical beauty in Fae, I would feel attracted to him. But I was numb. In fact, beauty now made me distrust people.

"Am I your prisoner?"

"No."

"Then escort me out of here."

"I can't do that without questioning you first."

"Which means I am your prisoner. Why do you have to question me?"

He seemed to consider his words before answering me gravely.

"I am the vampire sheriff of this area. I need to know about all supernatural beings in my area that could pose a threat to vampires. You are fae, a natural enemy."

"I am only one-eight fae. I don't have magic to save my ass on a good day, let alone purposely attack a vampire. I just want to go."

"Where do you want to go?"

"Not your business. Just know that I want to leave this area. You may escort me till the state-line if you wish. I want to be as far away from this place as I can be."

That seemed to bring a reaction. A flicker in his eyes I couldn't translate.

"Why do you want to go away from here? This was your home wasn't it?"

Home. This was my home. Was! I swallowed the lump in my throat and asked him another question instead of answering his.

"How do you know this was my home?"

"Old pictures in the attic, a very good eye for detail and a lucky guess." he shrugged, "You haven't been here for years. But you are not old enough for the number of years to have passed since you lived here. You jump in here suddenly through a crack in the air and now you want to leave as soon as you can get back on your feet. Without food in your stomach or so much as a dollar in your pockets. With a child to care for..."

He let that statement hang in the air between us. I knew he wanted me to crack and tell him my story. I knew how these conversations went. I hadn't just fucked and soaked the sun in Faery.

"Again, all of that is my business and mine alone. All you need to know is that I'll only be in your area for as long as it takes me to leave it. Once I'm out, you need not think about me ever again."

He paused a couple of seconds before answering me this time.

"You can't just leave."

"Can't I? I thought I wasn't a prisoner?"

He sighed. A very human gesture on an otherwise frighteningly huge vampire.

"Can you at least just...sit down. Let me feed you some food as we do this talk? Have you forgotten I saved your life from an unknown inflection a few hours back? If my intentions were lest than honorable, I would have drained you already. Your scent is heavenly to me, in case you forgot."

I felt a twinge of guilt when I saw that small amount of hurt in his eyes. He did save me. He didn't have to. He helped me and got me a legit doctor. All without asking for anything in return. For now at least.

"Why are you helping me?"

"Out of the goodness of my dead beat heart." he rolled his eyes, "why do you think?"

Despite the seriousness of the conversation, his response and the eye-roll brought a hint of a smile on my face. I noticed that he was smirking too.

"I think you want me to trust you so that my legs would magically and willingly open for you and you can have me on tap, whenever you like. If you help me keep my baby safe then in a few months, you'll get another fairy on tap. It's a win win for you. You just need to show some kindness and a little patience and the little fugitive fairy in need would fall for your charms forever."

His eyebrow continued to rise as he listened to my argument. My diabolical accusations seemed to have a different effect on him than I was aiming for. He didn't look outraged or hurt or caught. If anything, he looked amused.

"Well done fairy! You have me all figured out." he smirked, "So is it working? This show of kindness?"

"No."

"Want me to sweeten the pot? Maybe, add some seduction..." he crooned, pushed himself from the wall and walked to me. He sauntered across the narrow hall and came to stand right in front of me. I had to crane my neck to look at his face. But I wasn't stepping back or stepping down.

"It won't work on me."

"You have eyes. You are a woman. I have skills accumulated over a thousand years. You'll fold. Sooner or later." he said, all smug and arrogant like.

His eyes twinkled. His lips parted in a grin. He looked...drop dead gorgeous. He was right! I did have eyes and they liked what they saw.

Suddenly I realized how close we were standing. How poised to lean towards each other we must look.

I took a step back and turned away from him. The moment broke. Guilt returned to hound me with a vengeance. This time, not for saying hurtful things to him but for being attracted to him. After all my lessons learnt from the Fae, how could I desire an attractive male again, just because he was pretty? I didn't know him two seconds and I was already flirting with him. What was wrong with me? I was thinking like one of my 'cousins' would in a situation like this.

The thought of becoming or thinking like my fairy relatives turned my stomach. I ran to the bathroom and fell on my knees in front of the sink. Dry heaves wracked my insides as my body tried to find something to throw out. There was nothing however and I just sat and went through the painful motions of throwing up.

Cool hands gently touched my forehead and collected my hair at the nape of my neck. I felt him rub my back in circles, slowly, delicately. It was... comforting.

When it finally stopped, he wiped my sweaty face with a wet washcloth and gave me a glass of water. I swallowed two mouthfuls and staggered to stand. He supported my weight and then silently walked me to the bed. I sat down and closed my eyes in exhaustion. I heard keys being pressed on a phone. From the corner of my eye, I saw him going over my dietary requirement pages and order me a huge dinner. He ended the call and sat silently on the bed. I could tell he was staring at me.

I sighed and opened my eyes to look at him.

"Thank you. For everything you are doing for me." I said as sincerely as possible.

He nodded in acknowledgement and his stance relaxed a little.

"So," he drawled, leaning back on his elbows to sprawl on the bed, again displaying himself expertly, "You're a fugitive."

This is what I got for getting carried away and running off with my rants!

"You caught that huh?"

"I was paying attention." he shrugged his massive shoulders. Fixing his gaze on the ceiling, he went on, "You are a pregnant hybrid fairy fugitive. Your human family is dead. You want to run away as far as possible from here. There is a portal in my backyard. Clearly you are running from the fae."

"So? Are you going to rat me out?"

He snapped his head to look at me again and cocked an eyebrow.

"Why would I do that?"

"I don't know! Curry favor with the fae?"

He chuckled humorlessly and shook his head with a sigh, resuming to stare at the ceiling again.

"You don't trust easily do you? You are what? 25? 26? But you have this look on your face of a person much older than you are. You mistrust good deeds and good intentions. You are locked up like Fort Knox! You don't even open up to your doctor. You are ready to run at the first chance you get even if it means foregoing care and protection you most obviously need. All because you can't risk not being on the move." he shifted suddenly and came to kneel on the floor beside me. He took my hands in his and looked deep in my eyes, "What happened to you Sookie?"

There was a moment there, when I wanted to open up my heart and share everything that had happened with the vampire. What relief it would be to lay down the load for a while and trust him to protect my secret and my life as he was claiming? How easy it would be to lean on to his willing shoulders and let him help.

As easy as it had been to trust Claudine and cross over to the other side.

I snatched back my hands and averted my eyes from his piercing gaze, shutting him out.

"As I said vampire...That is none of your business. Don't pretend you care about me. Just because you haven't attacked me yet doesn't mean you won't in future. Tell me whatever it is you want from me, in return to saving my life and then let me go my way. If you won't, then I'll find a way to escape this house just like I found a way to cross between realms."

He stood up abruptly and walked away from my side, off towards the window, turning his back to me, his hands clasped behind him. This time when he spoke, his voice was colder. Business-like.

"My name is Eric Northman. Not 'vampire'. As far as payment is concerned, I prefer to hoard them as favors, to be called in later. So for now, just know that you owe me your life." he said and started briskly towards the door.

He still had his back to me when he stopped for a moment on the thresh hold.

"I'll send someone in with your food and procure the medicines Ludwig prescribed from her office." he tilted his head so that I could look at his profile but not his eyes, "Try to... take it easy..." he added and then disappeared with a flash.

I decided to ignore the tug in my heart when he left and cradled my stomach. I knew I needed to wisen up and stand on my own two feet for the sake of my child. I knew I had to be the strong only parent he or she would have. I also knew that this child's future was my one and only priority. I couldn't afford entanglements of any kind.

"Don't worry kiddo..." I whispered, "Mommy will find a way to raise you and keep you safe. You will be born free. You will always live free. They won't take you away. I promise you."


End file.
